Legal Team Assistant - NY

Role purpose
To provide effective high-quality matter support to associates that appropriately meets their requirements, enabling them to focus on providing legal services, client development and other priorities. In particular, the Legal Team Assistant (LTA) provides support on deals / matters undertaking matter related administration and co-ordination.
In managing the overall workload of the team, LTAs may be required to support other LTAs in the team with administration on their deals / matters. There is also an opportunity for individual LTAs to take on a more specialist role in relation to business development or know-how, in addition to the wider responsibilities of the role, and dependent on business need.

Key relationships

• Partners/Counsel/Associates
• Shared Service teams
• Colleagues in other offices in the firm's network
• External clients
  

Responsibilities
Deal/matter administrative support

• Provide administrative support for deals/matters including:
• Matter co-ordination
  • co-ordination and arrangement of deal related meetings and meeting logistics ensuring fee earners are prepared in advance with all necessary documentation and details
  • planning and co-ordination of any travel as needed on the matter
  • preparation of holiday / absence list, ensuring associate handover notes and liaison with team with regard to covering fee earner absence
• Matter administration
  • general administration of folder structures and contact lists
  • document management
  • matter security admin
  • bibling / bundling / circulation of originals (dependent on practice group)
  • co-ordinate know-how with associates
  • matter closing administration
  • liaising with Document Production where required to ensure timely return / completion of documents
  • management of disbursement invoices

Document Support – Preparation of client documentation and correspondence

• Type letters, correspondence, presentations, reports and legal documentation, including digital dictation if applicable
• Proofread all work to ensure that completed documents are delivered accurately and to the appropriate high standard
• Prepare and/or ensure availability of necessary agendas, presentations and meeting papers, including printing and timely distribution
• Create discovery shell documents

Finance

• Issue time recording guidelines to deal/matter team and educate fee earners on the deal to enter time narratives in a way that meets the client’s requirements
• Support fee earners to ensure timely timesheet entry, compliance and closure
• Review / edit time narratives within 3e where needed
• Matter maintenance tasks such as changing client contact details and co-client matter opening
• Take responsibility for submission of expense claims on behalf of fee earners and maintenance of copies, ensuring cross-check against credit card expenditure if appropriate

Business Development

• Maintain / update EPiC / Outlook marketing activity records relating to fee earners for reimbursement purposes
• Ensure EPiC client lists, contact records and relevant fee earner CVs are kept up to date and in proper form.
• Maintain/update EPiC experience records and events calendar; liaise with fee earners and Business Development to ensure all information is collated
• Coordinate/organize small client events and ensure all details, post-event, are followed up or liaise with Business Development team to coordinate larger client events
  • Production of internal and external invitations
  • Manage bounce backs from event and e-alert invitations
  • Format and finalize client bulletins authored by fee earners and arrange for publication using the firm’s email marketing tool and on AO.com and aohub.com
• Collate and print packs of information for client meetings
• Liaise with external printers for the production of brochures, pitch documents and other client materials

General LTA Duties

• Act as concierge for partner - Daily maintenance of calendar events and organization of the day-to-day schedule of fee earners, to include the identification and resolution of potential issues
• Coordination of meetings, to include the consideration of and responsibility for ensuring all necessary arrangements are made
• Proactive management of attorneys to ensure that they attend meetings with the appropriate documents/presentations
• Respond to telephone calls in a professional manner, acting as a filter to manage and control calls
• Proactive management of emails, voicemails and general mail, using initiative to route emails to the appropriate individuals for swift response and action, ensuring that tasks are followed up
• Planning and coordination of comprehensive travel programs, to include booking flights, hotels, car transfers, and preparation of itineraries etc. in conjunction with CTM, the firm's designated travel management company
• Arrange couriers
• Support any technology and process rollouts
• Printing where self-service is not an option
• Provide backup coverage to attorneys when primary PAs are out

Key requirements

• 0 to 5 years of experience in a legal secretarial position at a global firm or as an administrative assistant
• Bachelor's degree preferred
• Good working knowledge of MS 2016 Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
• Demonstrate a good understanding of the business (the area in which they work), its clients and its work
• Ability to work Overtime
• Display strong organization skills and flexibility to juggle multiple demands
• Demonstrate strong attention to detail and produce high quality / accurate work
• Show a proactive approach to tasks and situations
• Work effectively as part of a team and support colleagues
• Build successful relationships with fee earners to add value to the deal team
  

Who we are looking for

• Maintain tact and diplomacy, trust and confidentiality
• Exhibit strong professional communication skills, both oral and written
• Demonstrate a positive attitude in all aspects of the role, taking personal responsibility and ownership
• Have an positive approach to change and adapt to changing requirements
• Take responsibility for own development to improve performance
• Take responsibility for ensuring personal development and IT skills are maintained and improved

For individuals assigned to or hired for this opportunity in New York, the estimated annualized base salary range for this position is $65,000 - $80,000. The actual base salary offered will depend on the overall qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, including, if applicable, the location in which the applicant lives and/or from which they will be performing the job, and other job-relation factors permitted by law.